Indoor Passing Strategies

Volleyball Passing Strategies

Usually there are three passers to pass the serve in volleyball. It is very common in junior volleyball for all three passers to divide the court equally - and changes are not made - no matter what happens in the game. It is a good idea to share the court equally, if the goal is to give everybody an opportunity to learn to pass, but let's think about what we can accomplish if we start changing the passing line-up.

How to Change the Volleyball Passing Line-Up

By Using Four Passers

This is not a common volleyball passing strategy, but some teams use four passers, the opposite hitter being the extra passer. This can be extremely successful when your team is trying to stop the opponent's jump server.

By Using the Libero

The libero specializes in defense and serve receive, therefore we should give more court to the libero. A good libero can easily take at least 40%, maybe 50% of the court, or even more if the player is a talented serve receiver. This makes the teammates' passing much easier and let's them focus more on hitting.

By Helping a Teammate So The Team Can Play Better

If one player struggles in passing or hitting, two other passers should help this struggling player by covering more court. They should leave just a little slice of the court to her in order to make it easier for her to pass or hit.

The players should not take the situation as a sign of lack of trust. Everybody involved needs to understand changes are made for the team's benefit. Changes surely help the struggling individual, but before anything else, it helps the team to play better.

By Stacking Players in the Center of the Court

Stacking up the players in the center of the court and leaving lines open could be a solution, if the server tends to hit powerful serves to the center between the players.

Stacking up the players definitely makes the passers' job easier against powerful serves to the seams. It could also lead to a serving error if all of the sudden the server is challenged to change her serving style and direct the serve towards line.

By Stacking Players Near the Corner of a Zone

If the team has scouted that one player tends to serve most of the serves to zone 1 then surprise this server and stack two passers to cover zone 1. If the server continues to serve to zone 1, the passing becomes much easier. If the server decides to move away from her favorite serve, it may lead to a serving error or it could take the power off her serve.